COURSE INTRODUCTION - MYCOURSES

Course introduction
•   Focus on writing
           This is different to many language classes in that we focus on
           writing, not speaking. However, please feel free to ask if you have
           any questions about spoken English, too.

•   In-class lectures and activities, voluntary homework assignments
•   Schedule: Tuesdays to 3 March, but no class on 23 February
•   I can proofread ~3 pages of any text you send me during the course.

In-class writing activity                      (~10 min.)

Send me an email ( bill.hellberg@aalto.fi ) telling about:
   •   your work (administrative, or research/teaching?
       In what field or area?)
   •   how you use English (applications, web pages, articles, invites –?)
   •   What would you like this course to cover? Do you have particular
       questions on grammar or certain topics or situations in mind?
   •   Say something about yourself and your language background, if you
       wish. What languages do you have a good knowledge of? Where
       have you learned English?

Written vs. spoken English
How would you say the following?

              This         Think          Thyme
              A-E-I-O-U
              Z       W        J
              Schedule
              Resign               if GH as in enough,
              Ghoti = Fish             O as in women,
                                       TI as in motion

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Written vs. spoken English
1. There / their / they’re   8. Course / coarse           15. To / two / too
2. Its / it’s                9. Basis /basses /bases      16. Buy / bye / by / bi
3. Programme / program       10. I’ll / aisle             17. Sees / seas / seize
4. Enquiry / inquiry         11. Meet / meat              18. Site / sight / cite
5. Meter / metre             12. Err / air / heir / ere   19. So / sew / sow
6. Our / hour                13. Lapps / lapse / laps     20. Raise / rays / raze
7. Sign / sine / syne        14. Write / right            21. Metal/medal/meddle

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/ by Will Heltsley 2009
/ Wikipedia ‘Homograph’

Handwritten English
  Do we need handwriting anymore?
  • Has been declining in society
  • No longer taught in schools (?)

  o However, still needed for:
    - forms, applications, signatures
    - the post office, mail deliveries
    - sticky notes (‘Post-its’) for coworkers or family
    - taking lecture or meeting notes
    - shopping lists, to-do lists, etc.
    - passwords, PIN codes
    - communicating with a deaf person or if no common language
    - situations where no IT device is available
    - the future – for environmental reasons?

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Handwritten English
  Some terms and expressions
  Handwriting
  Longhand (versus shorthand)
  Cursive (letters joined together)
  Block letters (letters not joined together)
  Penmanship (good, clear handwriting)
  Calligraphy (decorative or artistic handwriting)

  to write up (quickly)
  to write down/out (ideas/thoughts/feelings)
  to write in (a text box, a form)
  to print (handwrite with clear, non-joined letters)
  to jot (simple notes)
  to scribble, scrawl, make ‘chicken scratch’ (illegible)

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Handwritten English
Please handwrite the following
     A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

and the following (in numerals, not letters)
     zero one two three four five six seven eight nine

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Handwritten English
  A style of
  handwriting
  taught in
  the US.

                                 Image: Andrew Buck. Wikipedia: ‘D'Nealian’

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Handwritten English
What character is this   …   b? 6? G?

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Handwritten English
How do you see or interpret     ?

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Typed text is not always clearer.

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Ii ̶ Iilaakso               Ii ̶ Iilaakso   Ii ̶ Iilaakso
            [DejaVu font]   [Times Roman]    [Arial/Calibri]

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Ambiguity with typed characters
Il             Ii, Finland (consider also IISALMI / Iisalmi)

Il             Il, Iranian town, Israel country code (IL), Illinois zip code (IL), Turkish province (İl), Korean name (Kim Il)

Ill            ILL, river names in France, Germany and Austria

II, III        II, Roman numerals for 2 and 3

|              |(or ¦) , vertical bar or ‘pipe’ symbol in computing and math

ll             ll, ‘long list’ - Unix command for listing files

IIT            Indian Institutes of Technology

llama     llama, camel-like animal; Ileum ileum, in small intestine; Lloyd Welsh name; Ilya,    Illia, Ilija, Ilyich Slavic
names; ancient Balkan area of Illyria; Homer’s Iliad; words like Ill (ill), Illustrate, Illogical, Illuminati.

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Handwritten English
ASCII characters (1963). Note how ‘zero’ appears.

Three ways of writing zero:

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Varieties of English

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Varieties of English

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Varieties of English

     [We ran out of time here, so in our next session we’ll pick up where we left off.]

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Next week in class:*

            Varieties of English (US-UK educ. terms)
            Email
            Points of grammar
            Politeness

                                            *
                                                Content may change somewhat.

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